Would you ever wake your baby from a nap?

I know the obvious answer is no, but should you ever cap naps to protect night sleep?

My lo has started taking two epic 2/2.5 hour naps plus a third one hour nap each day. He goes down awake at night around 6:30-7 with minimal fussing, but is still waking a few times at night (in addition to his 2 feedings), and will frequently cry and need resettling with a pacifier around 3-4am. He has learned how to fall asleep awake for naps (hence the long naps now), and we just started putting him down awake at night, so he’s getting better at putting himself to sleep.

I just don’t know if the night waking issues are nap related or regression related or something else?

That’s a normal amount of sleep. I don’t let mine sleep longer than 3 hours and she would do longer than that for her late afternoon nap, so I always wake her after 3 hours. Her first nap is between 1.5 and 2 hours. Second is usually short and on the go (carrier, car, etc about a half hour). Last nap is the big one. Then she sleeps between 12-13 hours at night.

I do....our LO (little one) takes a long nap in the afternoon. I cap it at 2.5 hours because he usually also has taken another 2 hours worth of naps earlier in the day. Right now they’re supposed to sleep about 15 hours a day so I want him to have at least 10-11 hours of sleep left overnight. Capping the afternoon nap also ensures that he has enough wake time before bed time, so his sleep drive is high enough.

He was taking crap, 30-40 min naps for about a month, and was impossible to put down. We bounced, shh’d, etc to sleep. Finally, one day, he was flipping out while my husband tried his usual nap tricks, so he put him down “awake” with his pacifier, and he put himself to sleep. We then started doing that at every nap, and within a week or so, they started to lengthen. I just put him down awake at night for the first time last night. Prior to all of this, I’d occasionally notice on the monitor that he would put himself to sleep after stirring around. I think he was capable of doing it, but we never gave him the chance until recently.

I do....our LO takes a long nap in the afternoon. I cap it at 2.5 hours bec...

Posted
12/02/2018

I do....our LO takes a long nap in the afternoon. I cap it at 2.5 hours because he usually also has taken another 2 hours worth of naps earlier in the day. Right now they’re supposed to sleep about 15 hours a day so I want him to have at least 10-11 hours of sleep left overnight. Capping the afternoon nap also ensures that he has enough wake time before bed time, so his sleep drive is high enough.

Yes. I make sure my lo doesn’t nap after 5pm. He usually wakes from his last nap around 4-430. He goes down pretty easily at night and often gives sleepy cues about 90 mins after being awake, even in the evening before bed.

He was taking crap, 30-40 min naps for about a month, and was impossible to p...

Posted
12/02/2018

He was taking crap, 30-40 min naps for about a month, and was impossible to put down. We bounced, shh’d, etc to sleep. Finally, one day, he was flipping out while my husband tried his usual nap tricks, so he put him down “awake” with his pacifier, and he put himself to sleep. We then started doing that at every nap, and within a week or so, they started to lengthen. I just put him down awake at night for the first time last night. Prior to all of this, I’d occasionally notice on the monitor that he would put himself to sleep after stirring around. I think he was capable of doing it, but we never gave him the chance until recently.

Good for you! Putting themselves to sleep really is the key to good sleep!

Remember though that some kids just need a lot of sleep and some don’t. Mine is still sleeping around 17 hours a day, which is over what they say a 5 month “should” sleep, but the sleep consultant I’ve asked said it’s perfectly norma for some kids to just need more sleep than others.

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